Wolverine #43: Boats and Foes

Part 3 of Sabretooth War is a bit of a mixed bag but a series coming out at this pace needs issues like this to set the scene. It is surprisingly light on Wolverine despite being Wolverine #43, but it expands on Sabretooth and his motives behind this event. That said, the lack of Wolverine in the present day is somewhat balanced by flashbacks to the Team X days in a Miami Vice-esque mission. Benjamin Percy has returned to Team X flashbacks multiple times in this run, so this is nothing new except the setting. While the dialogue informs Sabretooth’s current motives, the main takeaway might be that readers would love a 1980s Miami Vice-esque Wolverine and Sabretooth book. 

Wolverine #43 seems to lean more into Victor LaValle’s contributions to the event, with most of the issue following Sabretooth. There is also the reintroduction of the Exiles from LaValle’s previous series Sabretooth and Sabretooth & The Exiles. It makes sense that they make an appearance since LaValle and Percy planted the seeds for this event at the start of the Krakoa era. There isn’t any rush to the finish line, Wolverine #50 in this case, so pacing hasn’t been an issue plus the switch between pencilers every other issue has been a smooth transition each time. Geoff Shaw’s art is fantastic, especially in the Team X flashbacks, though this issue doesn’t have much action. Alex Sinclair’s colors do an excellent job bridging the gap between the event’s dual artists and writers for that matter. This is the first issue in the event that feels like it was more one writer than the other, which isn’t a bad thing. LaValle was the driving force behind Sabretooth for the past four years, so it is only right that a Sabretooth-heavy issue featuring The Exiles would be written mainly by LaValle.